Brian Regan on Flying

Ahh, H2O

I've recently decided that there are two types of people when it comes to sports - or extreme sports - or something. There are land people and there are water people. I am a water person. I'd like to think it's because of all the time I spent in the ocean and pools as a child. Even at a very young age (i.e. infancy) my dad would take me into the Pacific. As I grew he explained how waves rise and curl and how to recognise a current; "Never swim against it," he would say, "you'll only exhaust yourself." In later years I earned my SCUBA diving certification, swam three semesters while at Uni, and participated in the swimming portion of a team triathlon. One of my fondest memories of my Hawaiian vacation in 2003 was a day spent at the beach with my siblings repeatedly jumping off a cliff into the surging ocean below. For at least two hours we jumped, swam, and climbed back up the cliff to jump again. I distinctly recall waiting for the wave to come and using it to push me up onto the rock - the surging was quite impressive that afternoon.

From my love of water would follow my love of Scripture pertaining to the same. "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." - Jesus. And how the waters of Mara (bitter: death) were changed to sweet waters (potable: life) after a piece of wood was thrown into the pool. One of my favorite books, The Saving Life of Christ, states that when the people began grumbling after they came across the bitter water and Moses cried out to the Lord, Moses was shown a tree. The answer for death (bitter waters) was a tree. Apply the tree (the Cross) and life will follow. I just love how water is so integral to what I believe. The water and the wine. Living water; streams of it flowing through a barren land. Life.

All this to say I went kayaking yesterday with a fellow scribe. We were on the portion of the river that was rapid-less so we could practice boat control, specifically when dealing with eddies. I had to force myself to listen to the instruction of the experienced kayakers because I was so excited to be on the water. I did have some fun rescuing a lost paddle after it lodged in some branches at river right. Only after I escaped from the trees did I realise how close I came to flipping and becoming entangled. Good thing I didn't. And I managed to stay in my boat the entire trip without having to pull my skirt. Practising rolling was a blast. I'm just a little apprehensive about the day I flip while in a rapid and have to get back up without dying. We'll see how that goes.